1
00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,680
Speaker 1: As a guide an hunter, I've spent thousands of days

2
00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,760
Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard

3
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,560
Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics. They'll get you closer

4
00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,360
Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.

5
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:30,960
Speaker 1: This is cutting the distance. Now picture this. You and

6
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,480
Speaker 1: your buddies are in the middle of Alaska on a hunt.

7
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 1: You're thick into bear country. You got an animal down

8
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,239
Speaker 1: the day prior, and we're able to pack half of

9
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,320
Speaker 1: it out. You hung some of the meat in a

10
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 1: tree nearby, and you went back to camp. Now you're

11
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,400
Speaker 1: coming back for the last load. What do you do?

12
00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,800
Speaker 1: How do you proceed? What's the way to make sure

13
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,720
Speaker 1: that you're safe because you are approaching a meat site

14
00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,560
Speaker 1: in the thick of bear country. Now, I've had my

15
00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,520
Speaker 1: fair share of showdowns with both black bears and brown bears.

16
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,120
Speaker 1: Honestly a few too many stories to recount all in

17
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,720
Speaker 1: one sitting. But bears are concerned for many hunters, and

18
00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 1: honestly rightfully so. It's because they can kill you, maim you,

19
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,800
Speaker 1: leave your gear and shambles. Now, acting appropriately in bear

20
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,520
Speaker 1: country can honestly save your life. What I want to

21
00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: cover is the motives for attacks and understanding bare behavior

22
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,520
Speaker 1: why would a bear attack you in the first place.

23
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:30,800
Speaker 1: I also want to go over a few of the

24
00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,640
Speaker 1: best practices for preventing an encounter in bear country, and

25
00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,640
Speaker 1: then I also want to finally get into possible defense

26
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: options just in case you do one day find yourself

27
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:54,280
Speaker 1: in a really shitty situation. Now, I really want to

28
00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,760
Speaker 1: share a story with you first about a bear encounter

29
00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 1: that actually went wrong, because I think this is a

30
00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:06,520
Speaker 1: great example of things to learn. Now, luckily everybody was

31
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 1: okay in this particular instance, but it was a good

32
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,519
Speaker 1: learning experience if you ever have to have a bear

33
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,399
Speaker 1: learning experience in the way that this one panned out.

34
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 1: One thing, my major takeaway from this entire event was

35
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,920
Speaker 1: we did right and we did ten percent wrong, and

36
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,600
Speaker 1: that ten percent wrong is what literally could have bid

37
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,399
Speaker 1: us in the ass on this trip. So to take

38
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,000
Speaker 1: you back, now, many of you maybe have heard this

39
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,760
Speaker 1: story before, but I just have to go through it

40
00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:41,760
Speaker 1: because we're gonna look at it through the lens of

41
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,800
Speaker 1: what to learn and what you should do in bear country.

42
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:47,280
Speaker 1: We were in a fog knack Island. I was with

43
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,240
Speaker 1: Steve Ronnella and we're filming one of the episodes for

44
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:55,680
Speaker 1: the Latest Meat Eaters on Netflix. Now. Fog Nack Island

45
00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,480
Speaker 1: is off of the coast of Alaska. It's off of

46
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,680
Speaker 1: Kodiak and it's just as some of the largest bears

47
00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 1: brown bears in the world. And you gotta also remember

48
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,400
Speaker 1: the time of year is later in the fall the

49
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,799
Speaker 1: salmon run. The salmon is still running, but it's not

50
00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,360
Speaker 1: like it was during the summer. There are not a

51
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 1: really good barry crop this time of year, and there

52
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,840
Speaker 1: are a lot of large bears. Now. I have hunted

53
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,760
Speaker 1: this area before, and the first time I hunted with

54
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,560
Speaker 1: my brother, we were as bear aware as you could get.

55
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,079
Speaker 1: We were there by ourselves, just the two of us,

56
00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:36,480
Speaker 1: and we saw large bears daily and it generally was

57
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,600
Speaker 1: that these bears were around the herd of elk that

58
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 1: we were actually hunting. Now, when you're seeing the bears

59
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,120
Speaker 1: all the time, you're really thinking bear safety, bearware, don't

60
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,839
Speaker 1: keep any food near camp. We actually had a bear

61
00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,160
Speaker 1: fence around our tent because we are camped pretty close

62
00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,000
Speaker 1: to the water and what would be almost a natural

63
00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,240
Speaker 1: corridor for movement of the animals. Because of this, the

64
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,200
Speaker 1: hill came down behind our camp that time, we didn't

65
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,600
Speaker 1: have a lot. They wouldn't have a lot of room

66
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,760
Speaker 1: to get around, So you know, we took every precaution

67
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,400
Speaker 1: that we really could. That trip, we did everything right

68
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 1: right because we did not have a bad encounter. Now,

69
00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:17,279
Speaker 1: on the follow up trip, at the point where we

70
00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,520
Speaker 1: had shot an elk, we had seen zero brown bears.

71
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,479
Speaker 1: I told everybody how many bears we were seeing and

72
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:23,680
Speaker 1: how bad the bears were here, and heard so many

73
00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,919
Speaker 1: stories from friends of mine, Yet when you don't see anything,

74
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,320
Speaker 1: it's on the back of your mind. Now we had

75
00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:34,039
Speaker 1: bad weather and couldn't see much anyways, but bears were

76
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,040
Speaker 1: not really a concern for us at this point because

77
00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,520
Speaker 1: we've gone so long without seeing him. So as I

78
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,039
Speaker 1: tell this story, just keep thinking of if I was

79
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,160
Speaker 1: doing everything by the book and little things that are

80
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,760
Speaker 1: chipping away to create that ten percent that could really

81
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,839
Speaker 1: go wrong. Now, Steven shot a bull elk, and these

82
00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,000
Speaker 1: elk are huge. I mean, you are not going to

83
00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 1: pack one of these out in one trip, and we're

84
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,120
Speaker 1: a long ways from camp. We actually had a mountain

85
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,880
Speaker 1: he had to climb up over the top from camp

86
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,599
Speaker 1: and then dropped down into the valley. Took about half

87
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,960
Speaker 1: a day to get there. So he shot a bull

88
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:15,599
Speaker 1: just before dark in the evening, so we quarter it out.

89
00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,599
Speaker 1: The first thing we gotta do get the get the

90
00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 1: meat away from the carcass. We put it up in

91
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 1: a tree uphill where we might have a view from

92
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,480
Speaker 1: other areas. When we come back, we get the meat

93
00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 1: hung in a tree up high enough where a bear

94
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,720
Speaker 1: couldn't reach it. We then load up our packs with

95
00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,839
Speaker 1: some meat and hike out. We hike out all day

96
00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,919
Speaker 1: or all night, essentially get back the next morning, and

97
00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,360
Speaker 1: by this point we're fairly tired, so we actually gave

98
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,480
Speaker 1: it a day in between because the meat was fine.

99
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,360
Speaker 1: It's either hanging there or hanging in camp. And then

100
00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: we go back the following morning. Takes us half a

101
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,640
Speaker 1: day to get there. We get to where the meat was.

102
00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,880
Speaker 1: Before we go up there, we glass into the area.

103
00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,280
Speaker 1: We don't see any bears. We go in with our

104
00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,080
Speaker 1: bear spray. I had my pistol drawn. We make noise

105
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,159
Speaker 1: on our approach. We search around the tree and there

106
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 1: did look didn't really look like any bear sign. However,

107
00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,520
Speaker 1: there was like this scat like bear crap that somebody

108
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,520
Speaker 1: had stepped in. But we thought I actually thought, um,

109
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,440
Speaker 1: maybe that was something that someone stepped in before I

110
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:28,560
Speaker 1: got there. So at this point everything the coast is clear.

111
00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,640
Speaker 1: We looked in there pretty good. We didn't see anything,

112
00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:35,560
Speaker 1: but it is thick around that area. And then we decide, well,

113
00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,279
Speaker 1: it's been a half a day hike. Everybody's hungry before

114
00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:39,920
Speaker 1: we load up our packs and get out here, why

115
00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,039
Speaker 1: don't we just make a quick lunch. So we're sitting

116
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:47,159
Speaker 1: in a semi circle making lunch. There's actually six of

117
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,600
Speaker 1: us and we are sitting in kind of like the

118
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,040
Speaker 1: semi circle. Everybody's getting ready to have lunch. We decided

119
00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,400
Speaker 1: to make some coffee at this point. For bear protection,

120
00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,040
Speaker 1: I was bow hunting, so I was carrying. I thought, well,

121
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,760
Speaker 1: I'd like to have a firearm just in case I

122
00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:05,919
Speaker 1: needed it. So I had a forty four mag pistol

123
00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 1: on my belt of my pack, as well as bear

124
00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,160
Speaker 1: spray on the other side. Now, when I took my

125
00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,680
Speaker 1: pack off, what I had been doing was switching my

126
00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,120
Speaker 1: pistol to my holster on my belt and then leaving

127
00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,360
Speaker 1: the bear spray on the pack. Just that way. I

128
00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,160
Speaker 1: always had at least some form of bared trent on

129
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,000
Speaker 1: me at all times. And I think I may have

130
00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,960
Speaker 1: even had a way to switch the bear spray quick

131
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:34,679
Speaker 1: if I wanted as well. So we're everybody, we're deciding

132
00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:36,600
Speaker 1: we're gonna have some coffee. So I decided, well, I'm

133
00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:40,200
Speaker 1: gonna round up water so put into the kiddie so

134
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,560
Speaker 1: it's not just one guy's water getting boiled for coffee

135
00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,200
Speaker 1: for everyone. So I go around the circle collect water

136
00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:48,320
Speaker 1: for the pot. When I go back to my pack

137
00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,360
Speaker 1: where my pistol was sitting, I had laid out so

138
00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:52,840
Speaker 1: when I was sitting on my pack, it was just

139
00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,000
Speaker 1: right there. Someone was sitting there. So I just thought, okay,

140
00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,160
Speaker 1: well I'll just sit down on the bank right here

141
00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:03,400
Speaker 1: across from it. Now at this point, we're b s

142
00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,960
Speaker 1: sing as things go. We're you know, joking around, having

143
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:12,360
Speaker 1: some sandwiches. One of the guys in the back I

144
00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:17,880
Speaker 1: heard something. He heard a bear, a brown bear. When

145
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,240
Speaker 1: I looked up, that bear was already charging. I had

146
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,560
Speaker 1: a pretty good view of him coming in and it

147
00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,200
Speaker 1: just felt like his eyes were locked. I could see

148
00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,000
Speaker 1: the hair shaking and he was running fast. Now Steve

149
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,160
Speaker 1: was across from me where my pack was. My thought

150
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,720
Speaker 1: was I need to get my pistol, and it wasn't

151
00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,640
Speaker 1: even probably two arms length in front of me. But

152
00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,960
Speaker 1: by the time I got to my pack, it was

153
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 1: like the bear was already on me. I did what

154
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,760
Speaker 1: I consider a football juke, move left right, had no

155
00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,560
Speaker 1: clue which way to run, turned left. My back was

156
00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,000
Speaker 1: now to it. I thought, oh, man, he's gonna grab me.

157
00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,120
Speaker 1: And I turned around to look and he was wheeled

158
00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,559
Speaker 1: around and going the other way. On my mind, of course,

159
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,080
Speaker 1: I thought my football juke refused to ship out of

160
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,040
Speaker 1: this bear and made him run. Little did I know,

161
00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:06,840
Speaker 1: just as I had done that, Janice, who was sitting

162
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,480
Speaker 1: just to my right, had grabbed his trekking pole and

163
00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,600
Speaker 1: hit the bear in the face. Now, when I turned around,

164
00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,240
Speaker 1: I now saw somebody with the bear, So I thought

165
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,600
Speaker 1: I had no clue who he grabbed, but somebody in

166
00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,800
Speaker 1: the bear were going down the mountain. I grabbed the pistol.

167
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,520
Speaker 1: At this point yelled like who's missing? Count off, and

168
00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,559
Speaker 1: everyone starts like one one, what, no, who, who's not here?

169
00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:35,120
Speaker 1: Which it ended up being old dirt myth writing on

170
00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:40,320
Speaker 1: somehow back to back with this bear. Now the bear

171
00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,720
Speaker 1: ran off into the brush. We all circled up around

172
00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:47,040
Speaker 1: the tree. The bear kept circling out of range of

173
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,160
Speaker 1: where we could see, and we could hear him huffing

174
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,760
Speaker 1: as he moved around. I think he charged in a

175
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,240
Speaker 1: couple more times, but not to not fully in. You

176
00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,800
Speaker 1: could just hear sticks breaking and other things. Then it

177
00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,440
Speaker 1: got quiet for a while. We assume that he was

178
00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,559
Speaker 1: still there but had moved off. We then went up

179
00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,080
Speaker 1: the tree, grabbed the meat, made a formation to where

180
00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,480
Speaker 1: we could get into the open and then load up

181
00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:21,959
Speaker 1: our packs and move on. I think when we talk

182
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,440
Speaker 1: about bear attacks, we first have to understand bear behavior.

183
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,439
Speaker 1: You have to know why would a bear attack you

184
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: in the first place. Well, it can be broken down

185
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:34,480
Speaker 1: into a couple of different categories. I think the first

186
00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 1: category would be a defensive attack. Now, that's the bear

187
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,599
Speaker 1: defending itself or something that it cares about. It especially

188
00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:46,280
Speaker 1: comes into play when it's defending it's young, as far

189
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,760
Speaker 1: as a sow protecting her cubs or food. Now, if

190
00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,040
Speaker 1: you get between a bear and its food, that's a

191
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,640
Speaker 1: bad place to be. Another type of defensive attack is

192
00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,040
Speaker 1: a surprise when you surprise a bear, just like a

193
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,079
Speaker 1: prizing a mule deer. If you if you come over

194
00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,240
Speaker 1: the ridge and you spook a deer out, well, that

195
00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,320
Speaker 1: deer is probably gonna run. But a bear has fight

196
00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,520
Speaker 1: or flight instincts, so if you surprise it in the

197
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,040
Speaker 1: wrong scenario, it has the option to run or charge,

198
00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,440
Speaker 1: and it may charge. Now, the other kind of attack

199
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,559
Speaker 1: would be a predatory one. This one is bad news

200
00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,800
Speaker 1: for you. That a predatory attack can be seen is

201
00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,280
Speaker 1: where the bear is actually hunting or moving in a

202
00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:28,880
Speaker 1: way that is aggressive as a predator. So it could

203
00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,600
Speaker 1: be something like if you're attacked while in your tent,

204
00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,240
Speaker 1: that would be a predatory attack. If a bear is

205
00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:38,000
Speaker 1: following you and then attacks, that's a predatory attack. It's

206
00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:42,080
Speaker 1: not surprised, it's not protecting, it's young, it's not you

207
00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,840
Speaker 1: messing with something that it's eating. It's seeing you as food.

208
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,760
Speaker 1: And when that happens, that's a very dangerous situation. I

209
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,440
Speaker 1: honestly believe that the attack that happened to us in

210
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,640
Speaker 1: a fog nack was a predatory attack in nature the

211
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,400
Speaker 1: way that the attack happened, because when a predatory attack happens,

212
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 1: it's more that animals coming in to kill something and

213
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,320
Speaker 1: it's a full charge. I have surprised bears. I have

214
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,520
Speaker 1: been bluff charged by both brown bears and grizzly bears,

215
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,200
Speaker 1: and a lot of those are more defensive in nature,

216
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,920
Speaker 1: but a lot of those stopped before becoming a full charge,

217
00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,520
Speaker 1: especially with I've had that happen with a bear and cubs,

218
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,760
Speaker 1: or surprising I actually have surprised a couple of bears

219
00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,280
Speaker 1: on kills and they get aggressive, they wolf, they run in,

220
00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,199
Speaker 1: but they see you, you see them, and a lot

221
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,480
Speaker 1: of times that that charge stops. Now when it comes

222
00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,880
Speaker 1: to a predatory charge or attack, that's a little bit different,

223
00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:35,400
Speaker 1: and those are probably the kind that you have to

224
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:39,520
Speaker 1: defend yourself from, or just surprising a bear in a

225
00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:43,680
Speaker 1: way that it believes I have to fight, not run away.

226
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,600
Speaker 1: Now that we understand a little bit about the behavior

227
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,840
Speaker 1: of bears, we have to understand what we can do

228
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,800
Speaker 1: to avoid inciting that behavior. And I'm just gonna call that,

229
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,880
Speaker 1: say best practices in bear country. There's certain things you

230
00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,200
Speaker 1: can do. Now. While it won't work add percent of

231
00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,800
Speaker 1: the time, it will work most of the time because

232
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,760
Speaker 1: you are preventing yourself from getting into a situation where

233
00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,160
Speaker 1: that bear is going to have to incite that fight mode.

234
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,280
Speaker 1: A lot of it revolves around let's let's talk about

235
00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,840
Speaker 1: the first thing. Food. Now, when you're in bear country,

236
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,479
Speaker 1: bears are so food centric. They're about to go into hibernation,

237
00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:25,120
Speaker 1: especially in the fall. They're just trying to fatten up,

238
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 1: and they are hungry. Now, that doesn't mean that they're

239
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,320
Speaker 1: hungry and looking to hunt you. That just means that

240
00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,959
Speaker 1: you do not want to put yourself in proximity of

241
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: a hungry bear. That means you don't want to provide

242
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,079
Speaker 1: food for that bear. So in your camp, you need

243
00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:45,080
Speaker 1: to make your camp what I call a clean camp.

244
00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,520
Speaker 1: What I do is I generally hang. Now this is

245
00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:51,240
Speaker 1: if you can hang something, I like to hang it

246
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,440
Speaker 1: ten ft off the ground and then at least four

247
00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:58,000
Speaker 1: ft away from a tree, because a black if you're

248
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,760
Speaker 1: in black bear country, bears can climb trees and then

249
00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: get out to your food. You don't want to feed

250
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,600
Speaker 1: any bear and you don't want to bear to think

251
00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,760
Speaker 1: that this place what was your food is now the

252
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: bears food, because as soon as a bear eats food,

253
00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,040
Speaker 1: it's his food and he will then defend that food.

254
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,480
Speaker 1: So by providing food for a bear, you actually put

255
00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:20,400
Speaker 1: yourself in a really bad situation. Now, think about when

256
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:24,160
Speaker 1: you're hunting, you're gonna have game down. Game meat, once

257
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,080
Speaker 1: claimed by a bear becomes that bear's food, and he

258
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,160
Speaker 1: can be very defensive over that food. So you have

259
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 1: to do things to prevent a bear from getting the

260
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,800
Speaker 1: meat that you've just taken. The first thing that I

261
00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 1: do when I get something down is I will quarter

262
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,760
Speaker 1: it out and move the meat away from the carcass.

263
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 1: That way, I give the bear the carcass, but I

264
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:46,560
Speaker 1: move the meat away and hang it in a tree

265
00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,320
Speaker 1: or place where he can't get it. That just lessens

266
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,600
Speaker 1: the possibility of that bear trying to claim something that

267
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,479
Speaker 1: I'm going back to now. Another thing is avoiding surprise.

268
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,960
Speaker 1: When you know that there is somewhere a bear might

269
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,600
Speaker 1: be likely to be, say the tree that you've hung

270
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 1: meat or your meat or food that you have at camp,

271
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:12,880
Speaker 1: you don't want to surprise a bear in that area,

272
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,360
Speaker 1: So you want to make noise. You want to let

273
00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,280
Speaker 1: the bear know that a human is coming and give

274
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,360
Speaker 1: it time to take the option of a flight response

275
00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,320
Speaker 1: as opposed to a fight response. When you surprise a bear,

276
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,200
Speaker 1: you're going to have a fight response more than you

277
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 1: would have a flight response. When you're hunting, obviously you're

278
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:31,920
Speaker 1: gonna be quiet. You don't want to be wearing bear

279
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,640
Speaker 1: bells and talking, so sometimes that's hard. You might just happen,

280
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 1: And that's where probably most hunters get attacked is by

281
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,680
Speaker 1: surprising a bear in through the course of hunting. That

282
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,080
Speaker 1: may end up triggering a defensive response. But in times

283
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,160
Speaker 1: that you do not need to be quiet, like if

284
00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,800
Speaker 1: I'm packing something out, I've got meat on my back,

285
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,960
Speaker 1: I'm encumbered, things are awkward, I've got heavy weight. I'm

286
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,640
Speaker 1: gonna actually talk to whoever I'm with. I'll make noise.

287
00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:00,840
Speaker 1: If I'm by myself, I'm making noise. I'm not walking

288
00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,680
Speaker 1: out because I want the bear to know that someone's

289
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:07,120
Speaker 1: coming and give it time option to run away. And

290
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,000
Speaker 1: then don't beliebor. Don't mess around and hang around in

291
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,880
Speaker 1: areas where bears might be, where you could or have

292
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,640
Speaker 1: a higher percentage of encountering that bear. We did everything

293
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,560
Speaker 1: right up until the point that we hung around that tree.

294
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,920
Speaker 1: Now things could have been worse had we been messing

295
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 1: with the meat and that bear attacked. It just happened

296
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,320
Speaker 1: to work out in our instance. But I would say

297
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,920
Speaker 1: that the thing we did wrong was we dropped our guard.

298
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,240
Speaker 1: The number one thing you don't want to do in

299
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,760
Speaker 1: bear country is drop your guard. Always be on the ready,

300
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,040
Speaker 1: because the time that you need to defend yourself is

301
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:41,960
Speaker 1: the time you're at least prepared for it. So if

302
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,680
Speaker 1: you're always prepared, you'll always have a slightly better chance

303
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,720
Speaker 1: of making it out in one piece. Now, let's say

304
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,840
Speaker 1: that the worst possible thing happens. A bear does attack.

305
00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,200
Speaker 1: It's charging. There's a few things. I mean, I could

306
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 1: say you hear these things. Well, if it's a black bear,

307
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,080
Speaker 1: then you fight it off. If it's a brown bearer,

308
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:08,040
Speaker 1: you play dead. If it's a defensive attack, you don't run.

309
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,080
Speaker 1: If it's a predatory attack, you fight back. I think

310
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,119
Speaker 1: a lot of it is going to boil down to

311
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:20,040
Speaker 1: the scenario. In the situation, my thought is make noise.

312
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,440
Speaker 1: Let that bear no. You're a human and you are

313
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:27,040
Speaker 1: going to defend yourself. I think that one of the

314
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,280
Speaker 1: best ways to survive a bear attack is by having

315
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,720
Speaker 1: some form of defense, because you really do feel completely

316
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,000
Speaker 1: helpless when an animal with claws and teeth and muscles

317
00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,119
Speaker 1: that is super fast is bearing down on you you

318
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,080
Speaker 1: and you have nothing in your hand. It's the worst

319
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,679
Speaker 1: feeling you can ever feel. I know from experience that

320
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:53,119
Speaker 1: I never want to have that happen again and feel unprepared. Now,

321
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,480
Speaker 1: whether your defense system works or not, you're gonna feel

322
00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,000
Speaker 1: a health of a lot better if you have it

323
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:02,680
Speaker 1: with you. I think it. There's two main two main

324
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,080
Speaker 1: defenses for bears will go spray and firearms. There are

325
00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:12,480
Speaker 1: limits to both, and there really isn't a perfect situation

326
00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,680
Speaker 1: or scenario. I think both sides of the fence will

327
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,520
Speaker 1: argue for which one is better, But I honestly don't

328
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,119
Speaker 1: know the answer to which one is better because it

329
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,399
Speaker 1: might be situational in a lot of in cases. But

330
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,480
Speaker 1: I'm going to just go over the limits of both.

331
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,520
Speaker 1: So the bear spray is really good because you don't

332
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,000
Speaker 1: have to be as precise with it. Bear spray is

333
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,200
Speaker 1: essentially a large canister of pepper spray that can shoot.

334
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:40,000
Speaker 1: Maybe it's high pressure. You can spray it on the

335
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,600
Speaker 1: grasses even if you miss, or you can spray a

336
00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,720
Speaker 1: barrier the bear will run into that fog of pepper

337
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,240
Speaker 1: spray or get it coming in. You also don't have

338
00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,919
Speaker 1: to be as precise like you would with a pistol.

339
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,639
Speaker 1: A pistol you have to make a kill shot on

340
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:56,560
Speaker 1: a running animal. That can be very difficult, and a

341
00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,399
Speaker 1: pistols can be problematic. There's other people around. When ship

342
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,320
Speaker 1: goes down, you gotta make sure you don't shoot the

343
00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,520
Speaker 1: guy next to you as he's running away from the

344
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,199
Speaker 1: bear the opposite direction. That's a lot to take in

345
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:12,320
Speaker 1: in a short amount of time. Now, the drawback of

346
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,720
Speaker 1: the bear spray is if the wind is the wrong direction,

347
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:21,639
Speaker 1: or that bear gets sprayed and continues to attack, you

348
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:26,120
Speaker 1: have very little way to recover from that. When we

349
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,600
Speaker 1: did get attacked, the bear actually was running with a

350
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,560
Speaker 1: very stiff wind. I don't think that bear spray actually

351
00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,440
Speaker 1: would have worked in our scenario, which is a scary thought,

352
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,159
Speaker 1: but in a lot of scenarios it would have worked.

353
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 1: Now a pistol, on the other hand, you have to

354
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,040
Speaker 1: be a pretty damn good shot. But if the bears

355
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,080
Speaker 1: on top of you or of friends being attacked, I

356
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:50,240
Speaker 1: feel like that that's a good way to deter the

357
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,520
Speaker 1: threat by eliminating the threat. When you talk about pistols,

358
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,720
Speaker 1: I generally carry a light Smith and West and forty

359
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,879
Speaker 1: four mag but I have also a lot of my

360
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,840
Speaker 1: friends and other people have moved to a semi automatic UM.

361
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,600
Speaker 1: I actually just picked up a sig ten millimeter, which

362
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:15,160
Speaker 1: it has more rounds, less recoil, and is just more accurate.

363
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 1: But if you are going to carry a pistol, I

364
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,560
Speaker 1: truly believe that you need to practice with it a lot.

365
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,160
Speaker 1: I carry a pistol. If I'm bow hunting, I actually

366
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,199
Speaker 1: carry a pistol and bear spray, but I practice with

367
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,199
Speaker 1: my pistol a lot. Now. If I'm rifle hunting, I

368
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,879
Speaker 1: often just carry the rifle and bear spray, So I

369
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 1: like to have both options. It just depends on where

370
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,199
Speaker 1: you are. The type of bears you might encounter. If

371
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,240
Speaker 1: you're an area that you probably won't encounter a bear,

372
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 1: you might be better with just the bear spray and

373
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,400
Speaker 1: the rifle. But whatever you have the number one thing,

374
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,960
Speaker 1: whether it's bear spray, whether it's a pistol, whether a

375
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:50,919
Speaker 1: rifle is could be very hard to get off your

376
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,440
Speaker 1: shoulder or um. Even a shotgun is a pretty good

377
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 1: if you aren't if you're just hiking in bear country,

378
00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,240
Speaker 1: A shotguns a great defense. Loaded with slugs or yeah,

379
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 1: I would say just slug. Some people put a warning

380
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: shot in there. I don't know if I would do that.

381
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,720
Speaker 1: If you're gonna go lethal force. Use lethal force. That's

382
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:10,880
Speaker 1: my that's my theory if it comes down to that.

383
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: But no matter which method you choose, I've learned that

384
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: the best thing is it needs to be on you,

385
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 1: be ready, and you need to have it at hand

386
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 1: at all times, because if you actually are attacked, the

387
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:27,400
Speaker 1: time between getting to your defense and that bear being

388
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: on you is a matter of seconds. You can never

389
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: anticipate how fast it actually happens, and so you have

390
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,360
Speaker 1: to constantly be thinking about that, practice drawing whatever you're

391
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: using while you're out there, and just know that in

392
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: the times you're least expecting it is probably the times

393
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 1: that it will happen. So be ready. My final takeaway

394
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 1: with bear country is just give them the respect that

395
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 1: they deserve. Maybe you haven't had an encounter with them,

396
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: maybe you never will, but as long as you don't,

397
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,239
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. So when you're out there, just

398
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 1: be cognizant of the threat, constantly try to prevent anything

399
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,520
Speaker 1: from happening, and if something does happen, have whatever defense

400
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 1: you're gonna use at hand. Now, I think that that

401
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 1: was a good overview of entering into bear country, and

402
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:19,879
Speaker 1: those are just a lot of the things that I

403
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: think about when I'm out there. Now, that's not everything

404
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 1: that there is to know about hunting amongst bears. However,

405
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,520
Speaker 1: it's a good start if you want a little bit

406
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: more information or are going to be hunting in bear

407
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 1: country a lot. You really just have to continually think

408
00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,920
Speaker 1: about ways to prevent encounters and then also having the

409
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 1: back of your mind, what do I do if it

410
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: comes down the pipe. There's a lot of great resources

411
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,199
Speaker 1: on the meat eater dot com. As always, love to

412
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: hear your feedback. You can email me at Remy at

413
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 1: the meat eater dot com. Let me know any comments

414
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,959
Speaker 1: or what you like, what you don't like, maybe some

415
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 1: things you'd like to learn in the future. Also with

416
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: love it if you give us a good five star

417
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,360
Speaker 1: review wherever you're listening, and right in the comment hopefully

418
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: a positive comment. If you've got bad comments, just email

419
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 1: them to me. I'll junk mail. Just kidding, but honestly,

420
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you guys listening. Would love to hear

421
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 1: your feedback. And yeah, that's the sign off. I gotta

422
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: think of a cool sign off one of these days.

423
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: I'll have one, not today though, until next week. Catch

424
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 1: you later. Don't get eaten,